Many telephone companies in the United States and other countries are presently converting older mechanical or analog switchboard systems to the newer model electronic or digital systems. The newer electronic systems are easier to maintain, more reliable and have a much longer useful life than the older mechanical systems. The newer digital or electronic systems include computer memory functions and readily allow such desired features as automatic billing and call forwarding. Hence, there is presently a great demand in the industry by telephone companies to convert to the newer digital or electronic technology.
This invention relates to an improved method and associated apparatus for reliably and economically effecting the conversion from the older analog/mechanical telephone systems to the newer digital/electronic systems. The invention is thus a cutover or conversion method and related apparatus.
The system or method which is presently used to accomplish the above-described conversion is illustrated as prior art in FIG. 1. As shown, a new electronic main distribution frame 10 is placed on the main feeder cable line 11 by means of half-tap splices in the cable vault splicing area 12. The existing main distribution frame 15 remains in service during testing of the electronic system 10 by way of existing lines 16.
The new electronic system 10 is then tested under various call loading conditions for a period of from six to twelve months. During this rather lengthy test period, the new system 10 is appropriately programed and integrity checks such as call-through testing are made to establish reliability.
When final cutover to the new system 10 is accomplished, it then becomes necessary to remove the old system or main distribution frame 15 and such involves reentry of the splice area 12 to disengage circuit wiring. Such reentry into the cable vault splicing area 12 has proven in practice to be very costly and time consuming for service personnel to trim out the old telephone line pairs. Such reentry into the splicing area 12 may also affect telephone service since it is done manually and errors may arise which can compromise the new system's usage.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to demonstrate a novel method of conversion or cutover from analog/mechanical telephone systems to digital/electronic systems.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which aids in the accomplishment of the above method.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cutover or conversion system which performs in a reliable and cost effective manner without the need for multiple splicing into a main feeder telephone cable line which creates unnecessary time delays and which may adversely affect customer service.